Eat Drink LoveLike there's no tomorrowBecause, hey, you never know.

We have had our Instant Pot less than 1 week and we are firmly in love with it. Ours is the 1000W 6 quart. We have a 7.5” Steel bowl that we put to use for a “pot in pot” process classic.

What is pot in pot? Well, you add the requisite cup and a half of water to the bottom of the Quick pot stainless steel insert. Drop in the trivet. And then drop in a suitable bowl that fits well. The 7.5” standard stainless steel bowl is perfect. Doing porridge or oats this well takes a few minutes longer BUT it is as tasty (if not more so) and the clean up is a breeze!

Add this to your 7.5” stainless steel bowl and put on top of the trivet into the Quick Pot – that already has a minimum of 1 cup of water (I add 1.5 cups water for good measure).

There is a porridge setting for the Quick Pot. So, when you are ready – locked and loaded as it were: Press the porridge preset and you are off to the races. Steam time is 7 – 10 minutes and 10 minutes of natural pressure release.

We add pecans, dried apricot bites and dried cranberries to the oats (and some milk, cream or almond milk) but the options are as limitless as your imagination.

Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and coffee expert always on the look out for something simple and delicious.

My New Years resolution for 2018 was doing more meal planning and preparing meals in our gourmet country kitchen. Now don’t get me wrong. I do my share of sous chef work; chopping, mincing, blending and eating!

Part of this plan was getting onto the pressure cook bandwagon that is currently sweeping the nation. So, off to the online marketplace to get an Instant Pot – and after watching a handful of instructional videos from Florence Lum and her husband of Vancouver, B.C. I was ready to dig in and start steaming!

My favourite foods are South Asian Punjabi spiced cuisine and Italian – so the Instant Pot was the right tool to start the experimentation and learning process.

Chicken tikka masala is good recipe to start with, and one of the most popular Indian dishes ordered at South Asian restaurants in Western Canada. It goes great with basmati rice to help soak up all of the delicious sauce, or with some plain naan bread on the side.

I enjoy Indian dishes that most of us Westerners simply label as “Curry”, which is completely inaccurate and misleading – Curry literally means “gravy” or “sauce” – so calling South Asian cuisine “Curry” does not do this very broad spectrum of cuisine justice.

Anyway – as I said, chicken is really easy to work with and really showcases the fragrant and aromatic spices that make up this dish.

Rice: I prepared 1 cup of Basmati rice with a 1 cup of water and a few scratches of salt in the Instant Pot in 4 minutes of pressure cooking. Perfect! I set that aside while I moved on to the chicken.

Marinating the chicken: Combine all marinade ingredients (minus the chicken) in a bowl and mix well.

Add chicken chunks and coat with the marinade.
Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Pressure cooker saute mode:

Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for medium heat. When it has reached temperature, add chicken chunks (along with any marinade sticking to them) to the pressure cooker.
Saute until the chicken is cooked on all sides, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Turn off the saute mode.

Pressure cooker high pressure mode: Add all of the sauce ingredients except the cream to the pressure cooker, over the chicken, and stir. Secure and seal the lid.

Select the manual mode to cook for 10 minutes at high pressure. Use the quick steam release handle to release pressure.

Pressure cooker saute mode: Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for low heat. When it has reached temperature, add cream to the pot, stirring with the other ingredients. Simmer until the sauce is thickened to your liking, a few minutes.

Serving: Serve with basmati rice or naan. Garnish with cilantro. It’s crazy delicious and there is enough here to serve 4 folks hungry for some great South Asian eats!
You can check out Florences YouTube channel for more hands-on recipes and inspiration.

Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and coffee drinker who is always looking for better ways of cooking great food faster with less hassle.

In a large pot, or Dutch oven, add 1 tablespoon oil, the sausage, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Cook for 15 minutes.
Remove sausage and place on platter – cut into bite size pieces when cool.

Add chicken to cooking pot and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove chicken from the pot and set aside.

Drizzle another tablespoon of Canola oil into the pot and then add onion, celery and bell pepper. Cook for 6-8 minutes, or until vegetables are almost tender or translucent. Add garlic and saute for an additional 2 minutes.

Next, place rice and 4 ½ cup broth in the pot. Stir to completely combine. Over medium heat, wait for the ingredients to come to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let jambalaya simmer for 15 minutes. Added chopped oysters and Swiss chard. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

Check on the jambalaya at the 25-30 minute mark and see if it needs additional liquid. Stir occasionally to avoid burning on the bottom of the pot.

Once rice is completely cooked, serve immediately with fresh parsley and enjoy!

I have been doing most of my own baking since I was 12 – and although I do not have a cookbooks worth of experience, I have come up with a few good things. These are a Daylight Saving Time classic to get over the shock of the time change!

One recipe that I have been making for over a decade is my Winter Storm muffin recipe – and I do reference it quite a lot on my blog as it has evolved some – so here is the re-mix:

Add from 2 to 4 cups of the fruit of your choice – I use finely chopped mango, or apple, or fresh Turkish figs, blueberries or anything in the way of frozen fruit medleys – the sky is the limit.

Another option is 1/2 cup of chopped nuts (any kind) in lieu of single cups of fruit.
A couple of times the mix seemed a little dry after the liquid was added.
Solution: Add a shot glass (2 fluid ounces) of your favorite juice; Orange, Cranberry, Lemon – whatever you have.

Pam spray 2 Muffin tins (I use a 12 and a 6)

Use an Ice Cream scoop for loading up the muffin tins – paper definitely not needed!

Bake for 24 minutes in a 375 degree oven – check for degree of done with a toothpick.
Poke the muffins. If the picks come out clean, you are good to go.

Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes and then air dry on cooling grid. Makes about 20 freezer ready muffins.
Ziploc freezer bags suggested for long term storage.

At this time of the Fall, Andrea and I start looking forward to some rustic cooking; soups, stews and, yes, the occasional treat of pizza with seasonal ingredients. And since I have a sourdough starter that has been on the go since 2008, what better opportunity than right now to whip up a great pizza dough and accompanying pizza. Here goes:

A word about Captuo “00” Bread Flour: It is the gold standard of pizza flours by which most others are judged, but there’s quite a bit of confusion as to exactly what it is. You’ll read in countless sources that Italian Tipo “00” flour, like the Caputo, is a “soft wheat flour,” with a low protein content. Caputo 00 flour is ideal for pizza dough for two reasons: one, it’s finely ground, and two, it has a lower gluten content than most flours.

The “00” refers to the texture of the flour: Italian flours are classified by numbers according to how finely they are ground, from the roughest ground “tipo“1, to 0, and the finest 00. Gluten, the natural protein that remains when starch is removed from wheat grains, creates the elasticity you feel when you bite into a crunchy loaf of bread. The lower the protein content of the flour, the lower the gluten, and the lower the gluten, the less elasticity there will be in your dough (cake flour has the lowest gluten level).

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a hook attachment, combine all ingredients. Mix on medium low until all ingredients are incorporated and you have a firm ball. If dough is still very sticky, add about 1/8 cup of flour at a time until dough is firm. Your dough may be wetter than expected based on how wet your starter is. Don’t worry, just add more flour.

Remove dough from bowl and transfer to a lightly floured surface.

Kneed by hand for about 1 – 2 minutes, then form into a ball.

Place the dough ball in a medium mixing bowl that has been coated in olive oil or cooking spray. Lightly toss the dough ball in the bowl to coat in oil/spray.

Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. Place covered bowl in a warm area for 2 hours or until about doubled in size.

You can make this pizza dough ahead of time and keep in fridge for 1 or 2 days.

Transfer risen dough to a lightly floured surface. Roll out with rolling pin or spread with your knuckles to desired crust thickness.

Transfer dough to a pizza peel, if baking on a pizza stone, or onto a pizza pan or baking tray.

I just made this rich, dark chocolate brownie with a soft chewy center, firm edges and a crackly top. Simple to make using just one bowl. Pay attention to the measurements as they are the key to success.

INGREDIENTS

¾ cup Fry’s, Hershey’s or Dark Dutch cocoa

½ tsp baking soda

⅔ cup butter – melted

½ cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

2 free range jumbo eggs

1⅓ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

1 cup dark/medium Bernard Callebaut chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9 by 13 baking pan.

Add cocoa and baking soda to a large bowl and stir to combine.
Melt ⅔ of a cup of butter in your microwave. With a wooden spoon, stir ½ of the melted butter into the cocoa and baking soda. Stir until combined.

Add ½ cup of boiling water to bowl with cocoa and butter. Stir until combined and smooth.

Add sugar, eggs and the rest of the melted butter to the cocoa mixture. Stir until combined.

Sift in 1⅓ cup of flour. Add vanilla and salt. Stir until combined and batter is smooth.

Add chocolate chips to batter and stir until combined.
Pour into prepared baking pan and smooth the top out with a wooden spoon. Bake for between 35 and 40 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness.

Cool for 30 minutes in pan. When cool, remove from pan and cut into snack sized brownies.
Yield should be around 2 dozen.
Serve with ice cream while warm – or with black coffee. They are an addictive treat.
If you feel the urge to coat them with icing, wait until they are cool and use your imagination.
Alternately, one could swirl in peanut butter chips or raw peanut butter instead of the chocolate chips.

Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident and long time creative writer. A baker since the age of 12, he has been around the mixing bowl a time or two!